The Contract...otherwise known as .... A Day in the life in the Johnson house!

This morning I woke up to Cassidy yelling on the trampoline......"BUT YOU SIGNED A CONTRACT!!!"
This should be an odd sentence to hear from any 12-year-old girl, but I am a bit used to it by now. Cassidy came up with the idea of "Kidtown" a few years ago, and pretty soon she was the Mayor, the President, the lead singer, etc.
 "Kidtown" is basically a Communist society that the older kids came up with to control the younger kids. Amazing that they came up with the idea actually and it really makes me feel bad for those born later in life. Luck of the draw I suppose, and next time I think Will and Sarah will run to the front of the line in Heaven so they can be in control of "Kidtown".
  But for now, they will serve as Back up Singers and Vice Presidents and Janitors in Kidtown. And they sign contracts, like the one that was drawn up yesterday by Cassidy for Sarah and Will regarding the Band in Kidtown.

   (I have typed the contract below so you can understand what it says minus the spelling errors. And just so you know, CJ is what she goes by at school in case you get confused.)
I, Sarah and Will Johnson, will not quit on CJ. I will keep dancing even if I don't want to. I will be loyal and trustworthy and dance the way CJ wants me to. I will try hard to listen and obey. If CJ says "get in the back" I will get in the back. If by chance I disobey I can and will be punished. If I disobey too much, I can band will be kicked out. If I so much as quit, I can't unless CJ tells me I can. If I won't do something, then I will go straight to CJ. I am allowed 3 breaks during a rehearsal and 4 bathroom breaks and 3 water breaks. I will get paid 25 cents a rehersal and 30 cents a concert. Breaking this contract has no payment, instead I pay CJ 25 cents.

Morgan, who went to college for many years to earn an MBA and works with contracts daily comments that this contract is better than most he has seen. So maybe Cassidy and Lund have a good shot at running their own companies someday. Tomorrow, I think I will enforce "Opposite Day" and have the younger kids rule "Kidstown" for one day. It seems only fair.

Just Life.....

I thought I would catch up and I am randomly going through a lot of various thoughts and pictures..so I just thought I would put them all here and let you de-jumble them yourself. Good luck... he he he

Here is the sunset a few days ago... Isn't life beautiful!!

 And speaking of beautiful, my younger sister was teaching Cassidy the other day how to pose for different pictures once you are a "teenager"!

 Also, last Sunday evening, we gathered at my older sister's house to celebrate all the birthdays in the family for Jan, Feb, and March. So here are Cassidy, Lund and Cooper (Alisha's boy) opening their presents together.

 And here are all the birthday relatives lined up. Even Aunt Minh from Texas was there to join in on the fun.

                                                   Happy birthday folks!

 And they all had to share the same cake and candles.

 It was so wonderful recently to have relatives here in AZ that I haven't seen in many years. Morgan hadn't yet met my Great Uncle Augie and Kathy and my Uncle Jim and Mihn. Everyone got along beautifully and it is always fun to have family surrounding you in life. Here they are holding my younger sisters new baby! Babies are great at brining families together and Raelynn is especially adorable!!

 O.K. so here are the Wiemer girls in back... Alisha, Becky and I. (I am wearing a BYU basketball shirt to show my support for my younger brother Ryan who attends college there.)
Then in the front row we have visiting relatives Great Uncle Augie and Kathy, Uncle Jim and Mihn and my parents...

And here is my favorite picture today. The kids and daddy were all playing "Daddy Gorilla" on the trampoline which is a game they made up forever ago and it basically means that all the kids try to wrestle with daddy and daddy attacks them all!! I love it and it is really fun to watch.... And yes, there is ultimately a crying child in the end, but much laughter before....... Isn't that always how life goes?!!!

4 kids + 4 cans of Silly String = a whole lot of fun!!

This post doesn't need much explanation. I purchased four cans of Silly String at the Dollar Store and bribbed the kids to get their Saturday chores done before we left for Lund's football game. After his game we found a corner of the field and gave them each a can of Silly String and let them go at it. It was AWESOME!!!!  Probaby my favorite bribbery trick yet and the whole thing costs a whopping 4.00!!! Score!!!

I even got to attack my own son while taking the picture at the same time!!! Fun times!!

Last week in a nutshell... my baby turned 5, my great friend died, and my oldest turned 12... so it was an "emotionally filled" week

I am trying to get caught up on my blogs from last week, but I am slow to process everything because it is all very emotionally draining. Yet, I know time marches on as it always does and I have yet to update you all....

 Cassidy chose to have an ice skating party. I told her she could invite only four friends so I could handle the ruckus and still have some fun. And boy, did these girls have fun!!! (Me, on the other hand, I was just plain cold)

                                                   Cassidy, Becca, and Joyce

    All the girls in the middle of the ice rink: Cassidy, Emily, Alyssa, Rebecca, and Joyce

  Cassidy enjoying her hot chocolate on a skating break.

                       Cassidy and Emily enjoying each other and some much needed warmth.

  Me and my beautiful teenage daughter!!!

      Cassidy was really excited for present time. This year she got lots of clothes from us and an assortment of gifts from others. Here she is holding the 2 dollar bills Papa Lund gave her.

                                                          cake time!

 I will make a wish for you Cass: Many more years with you!!

            After the ice skating, we came back to the house to have fun, eat cake, and paint faces.

  Here are a few of them all painted up.  (By the way, the green on his face didn't come off so he had to wear a green face to church the next day. The Holy Goblin! )

Even Lund was great enough to let the girls paint his face.

                                        Fierce animals on the trampoline!

Love you Cassidy and I can't believe that you are all grown up!

Of birth and death....

Friday morning was Cassidy's birthday breakfast date with mom. We were in my bathroom getting ready because this was the first time she could wear makeup and doll up. We were really excited and she had picked Denny's for her special day. The phone rang as I was curling a lock of her hair and Cassidy quickly grabbed my phone. I saw that it was the father of my sweet Breanna, the girl who has been battling Leukemia. I grabbed the phone from her and ran from the room. And as I heard him sobbing on the other line, I knew my fears were confirmed. Breanna passed away on Friday morning and returned to her Heavenly Father. I was happy that she was no longer in pain. I was happy that I had spent the afternoon with her on Wednesday talking and laughing, a memory that I will always treasure. But I was sad. Sad for the Pena family, and sad for the whole she left that no one can fill. She truly touched so many lives and helped soooo many people. She even bore her testimony in church five days before she passed away and what a neat Spirit must have filled that room. What a blessing she was to all of us.
             I didn't want to keep Rick on the phone long, because he had to return to his family. But I told him now much we love them and then I hung up the phone. I came back into the bathroom and looked at my own girl, turning 12 that very day. What a blessing it is to have her.
               Cassidy and I had a wonderful breakfast filled with laughter and memories and then I took her to school and I was glad when she went into the classroom. She was healthy and happy and now it was my time to mourn the loss of my dear sweet friend. I will never forget the example Breanna was and always will be to me! That fighting Marine brat spirit was with her till the end!!!! Love you Breanna!

My Baby turns 5!!!!

On February 7th 2006 at 3:30 in the morning I gave birth to my youngest son, William Randall Johnson. He was a whole month early and weighed 7lbs 3 oz (a big boy!)

Yesterday, Will turned 5, although he will always be my baby!!!

 As I got him ready for the day, he was really excited about going on a date with me and then he suddenly stopped and said.."Wait mom, you can't go with me today. You have the cancer today." I just laughed and said, "I have "the cancer everyday", but today you are my son and it is your birthday... we shall celebrate!"

              Here is the birthday boy after I got him ready for a Mom and Son breakfast date.

 Grandma Karen showed up to get the other kids ready for school and presented him with some birthday fangs, which he loved and insisted on wearing on  our date to.............

 McDonalds!! That is the date that he picked. He went up to the counter and asked for a Happy Meal and they replied that they don't make Happy Meals until lunch time. So I asked the manager if I could by him a toy from the Happy Meals and they agreed... .so I bought the birthday boy 10 of them and he was in Hog Heaven!!!!

 Will found a cute little girl to play with at McDonalds and they had a grand ole' time!!!

 Then I attended preschool with Will and observed how he acts in school. Quite differently than home actually.... he is very serious and attentive and stoic and quiet. Could this really be my Will?

       I even had fun playing with him and realized why he loves preschool. They have awesome toys there!

    Then I hurried home (after going to my Oncologist) to wrap his presents and have them waiting when he arrived off the bus. He helped me decorate his cake with dirt bikes and chocolate sprinkles for the dirt. oh, and swirly candles that he picked out. 

        He enjoyed playing his bubbles that he picked out at the store with Grandma Wiemer.

 And later, after a family dinner at Golden Corral, he got to open his presents. This was a fun one...

....that even Grandma Karen had fun with.

 Then we had a knock at the door and the little neighbor girl came over with some cars for Will and birthday wishes. These two are sooo cute together!!

 It is scary that my older kids are old enough to light the candles on their brother's cake.

                                          Here he is very serious while we sing "Happy Birthday to You"

 This is how he decided to take his first bite of cake.......Hey, it's his birthday!

 And one of my favorite memories was Will and Morgan working with his new tools. He wanted to be just like dad. Love it!