SWW

I haven’t participated in a So What Wednesday linkup in a while, so I figure it’s about time that I do.

This week, I’m saying so what…..

……… if the day after we go to purchase a new refrigerator our oven dies and we have to go buy a new oven also.  Home ownership is awesome.  On the positive side, I get a new convection oven and a French door fridge like I’ve wanted for such a long time!  These bad boys will be delivered sometime this week!

……… if I didn’t stay off of my foot as much as I should have over the past week after my surgery.  It’s pretty impossible with a 3.5 year old, a baby and a husband.

……… if I’m obsessed with taking comparison pictures of my two babies.  I just cannot help it.  I want to see how much they look alike.

……………if I just downloaded pictures from Cooper’s school play in APRIL…. Anywho, here is a video from his play.  He’s cute, I’m a bad videographer, I cannot keep the camera steady.

………if I’m already looking up family picture ideas for our family pictures this year.  We won’t get them taken until mid October, but I’m already obsessing about colors of clothing, poses and how to mesh all of us and make it make sense. 

…….if I’m also thinking about Christmas cards.  Yes, I KNOW it’s only July, but I’m trying to decide how to incorporate all of us into a card this year.  The Bram Fam with the Johnsons?  Separate pictures but still on the card?  All the same picture?  Just the Johnson’s on the card this year?  I SERIOUSLY need opinions.  Since Steph and Ryan got married, we’ve always just had them on our card, and in our pictures, but how many years do we do this?  Does it make sense to continue this practice?  HELP!

What are you saying So What! to this week?  Link up with Shannon and tell us!!

I've been shopping......

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Not buying too much, but yes, shopping.  Shopping for me, shopping for Cooper, and shopping for baby.

For Cooper:

Booster Seats.  Cooper is now big enough to sit in a big boy high backed booster seat.  I can hardly believe it.  But you know what?  He loves it.  This is the one we got him, he loved it so much for my van, that I got another for Tim’s car.

These color wonder paint brushes.  Since we’ve been painting Kathryn’s room, Cooper has been wanting to paint with brushes so badly.  I haven’t bought these yet, but I think I might very soon.  He’ll love them!

For baby:

Chevron crib skirt.  I’m not quite sure yet if my mom and I are going to try to make one of our own, or if I’ll buy one of these, or if this is even the best color, but I know that I want chevron curtains and a crib skirt. 

For me:

Mommy’s necklaces.  I cannot wait to have one of these around my neck with my baby’s’ names on them.  I really like the first one because of the pearl and heart, but I like the second because it’s matte and the chain is better (in my opinion).  So, we’ll see.  Maybe one day…..

Layered Squares Necklace - Sterling Silver

Hand Stamped Necklace - Personalized Sterling Silver Layered Charm Jewelry - Square Stack Duo

Have you been shopping/buying anything lately?  What’s on your everyday wishlists?

Consignment Sales: IKC Sale

Do you shop consignment shops?  Consignment sales?  Well, I for one, do!  I LOVE consignment sales.  I am lucky I am from Indianapolis too, because Indy has a few great consignment sales every year.  These are consignment sales that I have purchased 99% of all of Cooper’s clothes for every season of his nearly 3 years.  This sale is called the Indy Kids Consignment Sale. 

 

You see, I have a rule.  Five dollars per outfit or less.  I do not want to spend more than $5 on any outfit.  At this sale, I get majorly cheap clothes.  Like MAJORLY cheap.  And the better thing?  They are all almost brand new.  So many of the items I have purchased have had the original tags on them still. 

 

Check out these pictures:  (courtesy of the IKC Sale website)

 

These are pictures of what kinds of things you’ll find at the sale.  Rows and rows of clothes, gear and TOYS.  They have everything you need for kids of nearly every age.  I have bought Cooper shoes, coats, swim trunks, a bath tub, toys, his jumperoo, and so much more from these seasonal sales. 

If you don’t live near Indy to take part in the Indy Kids Consignment Sale, I hope you’ll look into these types of sales in your area, because they offer so many like new items for very reasonable prices!

Thanks Indy Kids Consignment Sale!

New Stuff

Once upon a time….. My stepdaughter and her husband came over to our house and told us our couch was looking a bit dated and that they thought we should get a new one (wink, wink, nudge, nudge)…..

Yeah, that’s right, they wanted our couch when they moved into their new place….  So, we went couch shopping.  It wasn’t planned, it wasn’t anything we ever had expected to do on a random weekend day. 

And guess what…. Yup, that’s right, we bought one.  It’s huge!  Pictures are below.  We bought the brown one, and the ottoman that we bought will be brown too, not the charcoal color.  It should be delivered when we get home from our vacation.  Woo hoo! 

What I love most about this couch/sectional is that it truly is 3 pieces of furniture that can be put together as a sectional or separately as a couch, loveseat and chase lounger.  Exciting!  The loveseat is armless, and the couch piece is a standalone couch.  Our plan is to put the couch with the loveseat and then separate the chase lounger in another part of the room.  Then one day – I might get tired of it and separate them.  And you know what?  That’s ok! 

Pictures below.  Aren’t I a lucky girl?

No, that is not my house, it is the showroom of the furniture store, and soon enough a copy of that thing up there will be in my house!

Have a great weekend!

What I’m Loving Wednesday

Linking up with Jamie for some Wednesday love. :)  I’ve missed linking up and reading so many lovely ladies posts, so I came back to link up today.
I’m loving that today is the first day of the Vera Bradley Outlet Sale, and that I’m going!  Today!  My bestie, Erica, and I are ditching work early to get our shop on up in Fort Wayne, Indiana.  We’ve got our tickets, we’ve registered so that we can make some purchases and I for one am super excited.

I’m loving that I’ve started some running on the treadmill during my walks.  I haven’t ever been a runner.  I don’t know if I can be a runner, but I’m going to try.  Last night, I ran 6 of my last 20 minutes.  I was hot, sweaty, and happy.

I’m loving that I carried on my mom’s Easter tradition and made a bunny cake :)  Isn’t it cute?  And… It’s really low in WW points.  A box cake mix and a can of crushed pineapple in pineapple juice.  The frosting is fresh pineapple, cool whip, a sugar free/fat free pudding mix and 2-3 oz of fat free cream cheese. 

I’m loving my son’s babysitter.  She is so neat and organized, and awesome and great.  This is a picture I took one afternoon last week when I picked Cooper up early.  It was snack time.  The only time throughout the day she lets the kids watch about 15 minutes of a movie or educational tv.  They love it and I love how cute they all look all lined up around the room eating their snacks.  That’s my Cooper on the far left.  Such a cute bunch.

I’m loving my sweet Hubby.  He’s so good to me/our family and I’m so blessed to have him in my life.   

What are you loving this Wednesday?  Do you have any special loves this week?  Link up with Jamie so that you can share them with us!  Happy Humpday ladies.

PW Day! & Weigh In Results & My Cooper James

Hey People!  Today is the day, I'm going to *try* to meet the Pioneer Woman and get my cookbooks signed!!!  Yippie!

Ree, now isn't she pretty?  How in the world does she stay so thin with her awesome recipes???

Weigh in results..... I lost 2.4 lbs this week!  I am 34% toward my weight loss goal!  I don't know why, but I like to calculate that each week.  It is encouaging to know that I'm 34% of the way there, but that I've still got a long road ahead.  I know that with time and effort, I can make it to 100% :)

Now, onto my favorite subject in the entire world.  My kid, my sweet little boy, My Cooper.  I've been really bad about sharing pictures of him lately, or even telling stories about our family.  I hope to do a family recap soon, but until then I'm going to give you a Cooper recap via some photos from my iPhone.  Why do I have a DSLR when most of the time the phone is what I use for my camera?  ARGH!  Oh well, here we go.

This is my big boy trying on Andrew's hat.  Cooper loves hats.  I need to find a baseball cap in his size and get it ordered.  Doesn't he just look so cute?

 He just loves to drive with Mommy or Daddy, so on this night, Daddy let him "drive" to park the cars after Cooper had finished playing in the driveway.

 Since the weather has been so wonderful, we've been spending a LOT of time outside lately.  On this particular night, we got the sidewalk chalk out and he scribbled, but I wanted to get his picture with his name.  We had to make happy faces inside each letter because that is what Nana does with Cooper. 

This was last Friday night. We went to play putt putt with our friends Erica and Mel for Erica's birthday.  Cooper had a great time.  He did just about everything that you can do with a putter that was not golf related. It was a bat and a stick and whatever else you can imagine, but he never quite got t hang of hitting the golf balls.  We all had a great time.

These two pictures were taken at an outlet mall that sits halfway between our house in Indianapolis and my Mom's house in Southern Indiana.  We don't often stop, but this Mama needed a few new shirts, so Cooper and I made a short stop in Eddie Bauer and then he saw the firetruck.  Cooper loves to sit on these rides, but insert that quarter and he gets scared to death.  So, I let him sit, for nearly 10 minutes while he played with Snoopy and drove that truck.  I love this kid.

Like I said, he looooooooooves sitting atop these rides, but we don't dare insert the change to make them start running.  This time it was when we were grocery shopping this week at Meijer.  He was so excited to ride the horsey! :)

Last, but not least, my little guy enjoying a treat last night while we shopped at Target.  I cannot tell you how much easier a lemonade and a bag of popcorn can make a shopping trip!  It's amazing!  For $1.99, it's worth every penny plus more. 

I think that's a wrap from me, hope you enjoyed the random reading, have a wonderful Thursday! :)

Miscellany Monday

I haven’t linked up with Carissa in a long time, so I decided it was time again.  Now that I’m taking time to get back to blogging, time to get back to some of my favorite days to post.

1) Friday night we went to a Indiana Pacer’s basketball game.  We were  in the nosebleed seats.  literally.  Here was the view from our seats, nosebleeds I tell you.

Here’s a picture of my cute boy and Ry-Ry and his niece Gracie.  Cooper LOVES Gracie.  Gracie LOVES Cooper.  They are so cute when they play.  She’s 4 and he’s 2.  He’s already flirting, they are sharing a seat.  It’s cute.

2) Saturday Mom and Shawn came up to visit for a couple of hours.  They got to see our Christmas tree and decorations.  I baked cookies and got groceries and cleaned.  It was a productive day.

3) Sunday was church then relaxation.  A day of rest.  Just the way God intended.  Amen.

4) 4  more work days (including today) until a break for celebration of our Savior’s birth.  I’ve been counting down for weeks. 

5) Tomorrow is our “Holiday” Christmas lunch at work.  Our group of Indianapolis Finance people gather together for a nice lunch right before Christmas.  This year we’re going to Sullivan’s.  The menu they’ve got planned for us sounds delicious.  I cannot wait.  I don’t frequent expensive steakhouses so this meal is always a treat.  We do a white elephant gift exchange.  I need to find a gag gift, any ideas?

6) 4 more work days (including today) until we hit the road for this trip.  Indianapolis to NE Ohio. Almost to Youngstown.  We’re headed to the hubby’s family’s Christmas celebration.  Approximately 5.5 hours in a car with Cooper and Tim.  Stephanie, Ryan, Andrew and Sami will be meeting us on the 23rd, but we’re going after work on Thursday.  Visiting with some more of his family during the daytime on the 23rd, then dinner with his siblings Friday night.  Hotel then home on Christmas Eve.

7) Christmas Eve service is at 4 Saturday.  Very excited to attend our first Christmas Eve service at College Park.  We are so blessed to have found a church were we feel at home.

As you can tell, I’ve got lots of “Christmas” on my mind today.  It’s such a special time for families to celebrate the birth of our Lord.  Blessings are all around, don’t forget to recognize them.  Now, what random things do you have to say?  Link up with Carissa and tell us!

Have a great day everyone!

The Johnson Five Lately

Wow, we’re busy, busy, busy.  There is always something going on, and just when I think things might slow down a bit, it just doesn’t. 

Since Thanksgiving it’s been one thing after another, and I am hoping that things will slow down after this week at least until we’re off on our multiple Christmas trips. 

What I want to know is, how am I going to keep up with more activities in the future?  Cooper is only 2 and we are so busy already.  What happens when/if we are lucky enough to get pregnant with another one?  What happens when he gets old enough to get involved in sports?  Goodness.

Before I keep rambling with all of the what ifs, lets talk about The Johnson Five lately.  Tim and I found out why we haven’t been successful in getting pregnant this year.  I have been diagnosed with something called polycystic ovarian syndrome.  I’m really not sure of all of the implications of this, but one of them seems to be that I don’t ovulate on a normal schedule so that we’re not having any luck right now.  We have to go through a few hurdles before we’ll have an opportunity to get pregnant, so keep us in your prayers for that.  We are hoping God has another little one in our future, but we will leave it in His hands, He knows what is best and we trust in HIS plans for us.

Stephanie is almost done with her classes, she’ll get an internship for the spring then graduate college in the Spring, YAY Steph! Ryan is attending school and working full time.  The two of them are enjoying being newlyweds.  I’m proud of the two of them.

Andrew is away at school, he’s enjoying his sophomore year and hardly ever coming home.  He’s doing great with his classes and his grades.  We miss him, but are so glad that’s he’s happy and having a good time.

Cooper, he’s just beyond cute, he’s wonderful and growing and learning new things everyday.  It really is amazing how much kids learn at this age.  It’s great.  I just cannot get enough of him.

Tim is playing in a kickball league and I’ve been working on doing all kinds of Christmas shopping. 

Those are the crazy things that we’re into right now, there is so much, on a daily basis, but that’s the overall scoop.

Since this post is all filled with words and no pictures, I’m including a couple of pictures we quickly took at Thanksgiving.

My brother (Craig), dad, brother’s two kids Layne (on my brother’s lap), Larissa (on my dad’s lap) and Cooper and me.

 

My brother, dad and me.

Have a great day and wonderful weekend.  I’m off to Louisville, KY to go shopping shopping shopping for the weekend with my Mama!   Yay!!

Miscellany Monday

Linking up for Miscellany Monday with Carissa at Lowercase Letters.

 

One.  We picked up Cooper’s birthday present this weekend.  It’s pretty and I cannot wait to see the look on his face when he gets it.  I love it, and hope he does too!

Two.  Hubby and several other guys (suckers if you as me, wink, wink, nudge, nudge) moved this hot tub to our house.  It now sits where our old one used to sit.  This one is bigger.  Much. Bigger.  It has 7 seats.  Wowsers.  We bought this bad boy on Craigslist.  We aren’t sure if it works yet, but we are hoping that it does, because we got a crazy good deal!

Three.  I am going to NYC tomorrow for my best friends wedding.  She and her partner Melli are getting married in one of the only states where they can.  I am excited for them.  It’ll be a whirlwind trip for me, I’ll be in NYC for less than 24 hours.  Wish it could be longer, love that city.

Four.  This upcoming week is not just NYC, it’s a busy week otherwise.  I’ve got to get our house ready for my baby’s 2nd birthday.  Cooper turns 2 on October 3rd and we’re having his birthday party next weekend.  I’m looking forward to having some fun with our family.

Those are my Miscellany items for this Monday.  Link up with Carissa and tell us about your random things.