Florida Trip!

Went spent Easter in Venice, FL with Ben's paternal grandparents.  Several other family members were also there including Aunt Ruthie, DJ and Lauren, Uncle Ron, Buddy, and Jenn.  Uncle George and Aunt Jan also stopped by later in the evening on Easter.  We went to Grandma and Grandpa's church Easter morning and then the entire family enjoyed a fancy brunch out at a local restaurant.  Grandma even had Easter Bunny baskets prepared for the kids!  It was so nice seeing everyone.  We had a great visit!

While there we got to watch cousin Buddy play in his 1st golf competition of the season.  He played great and came in first place.  He is on his middle school's team.  We also briefly dropped by the beautiful beach.  It was Bailey Beth's first beach experience and she was captivated by the sea.

We ended our trip with a 2 day visit to Sea World.  Tyler LOVED it!!  Bailey Beth enjoyed it, but she was a bit too young to appreciate everything.  Tyler has really gotten into orca whales, like Shamu.  He often talks about Shamu and the place "where Shamu lives".

 The Easter Bunny came to our house early since he knew we'd be away

Buddy in between holes

 

Grandma and Grandpa Johnson

Aunt Ruthie, Lauren, DJ

Their adorable outfits were courtesy of Nana and Papa!

 

Tyler was too interested in the automatic doors

 

Nokomis Beach

We celebrated Jenn's sweet 16 too

 

Buddy, Tyler, and Uncle Ron

Lauren and Aunt Ruthie

 

Shamu!! 

 sea lion show - so funny!

Elmo and Abbey show

one of the tunnel aquariums

Dolphin show was amazing!!  Mine and Ben's favorite!

 These dolphins are pushing this trainer through the water while spinning him simultaneously - incredible!

Check out that height!

 

Bailey was actually saying "night night....please" after day 2 of Sea World!

 This is what 2 days of fun at a theme park does to kids.....and their parents!

YAY for Sea World!

Circus Party

We celebrated cousin Bennett's 4th birthday at the circus.  It was Tyler and Bailey Beth's 1st circus experience and they seemed to enjoy it - especially Tyler.  After intermission Bailey Beth was squirming for more freedom.  Naturally, Tyler was very interested in the tigers.  Bennett looked happy and like he was having fun!

 

Bennett enjoying his cotton candy

 

Aunt Anna, G.G., Uncle Brian, Brock, Bennett, and Brianna

 

Bennett's dinosaur cake

 Tyler posing with the Ringmaster

Tyler ate the entire container of popcorn by himself

St. Patrick's Weekend

We wore green, made shamrock cookies, and had corned beef and cabbage for dinner!  We also went to Gee-Gee's (my dad's mother) birthday party on Sunday.  Here are some photos from her party!

 

We put butter on the birthday person's nose for good luck

one more.....fun in the sand box

Happy Wednesday!

wearing her beautiful dress from Aunt Denise

Fun Weekend!

We had such a fun weekend that I just had to do a blog about it! 

Friday evening we attended our small group bible study at church which has been a wonderful experience.  Saturday we spend the day down in Greenwood at my parents' house.  Uncle Trent, Aunt Shauna, and Kaleb were visiting for the weekend so it was great to spend time with everyone.  Tyler and Kaleb played so well together and Bailey Beth really enjoyed soaking up attention from Nana and Papa.....though I must say she certainly had a soft spot for Uncle Trent this time!  Shauna seems to have recovered beautifully from her neck surgery too so that was nice to see.  It was simply a fun visit from start to finish.  Sunday we went to church and then spent the day hanging out as a family at home.  Tyler had a ball helping Ben replace our mailbox.....it got run over last week, but the guilty party notified us immediately so it wasn't a biggie.

my sweet family

Photo Updates

I haven't posted anything in about a month so I thought I'd do a mixture of photo updates.....especially since most of you are only interested in pictures anyway ;-).

Tyler started Awana this year as a Cubbie

One of her favorite activities.....she'll flip through books for a good 20 mins.

We went to the Clemson vs. GaTech basketball game with Tyler & Paige

Bailey says, "Really!  Another photo, Mama?"

Playing in her dolls' pack n play

Rapunzel came to Brianna's 5th birthday party!

Bailey Beth got a photo op too

Bailey came to the party as Cinderella!

The 3 Johnson girl cousins...this makes me laugh b/c Baby Britton just pulled Brianna's Rapunzel wig off and her expression is "What?  I didn't do it."

Here's what Tyler and Bennett did during the princess party - wrestle of course!  Tyler wanted to come as a king (hence the crown).  He said kings were better than princes and we couldn't argue!

me and my little princess

 Johnson family at the party

relaxing on the couch with Dada

Valentine's cookies

Tyler is stealing all the vanilla chips...check out that sneaky face.

Uncle Brian's surprise birthday party on Valentine's Day

Tyler gave his "favorite friend" Olivia a rose for Valentine's Day ;-)

Abbey and Andy Visit

We enjoyed a visit from Abbey and Andy after Christmas.  They spent 2 weeks in SC, splitting their time between the 4 older siblings, while Grammie and Grampa went on a cruise.  Tyler and Bailey Beth absolutely love their Aunt Abbey and Uncle Andy and had a great time playing with them. 

We had Pizza Hut with Aunt Lucinda and Uncle Trey after we picked Abbey and Andy up from the airport, went to see some Christmas lights, visited their old house on Catfish Cove, explored Clemson's campus, played a Twilight board game, watched the final Harry Potter dvd, made lots of snacks, and Andy helped Ben build a liner for his trailer and accompanied him on several trips to pick up mulch for our yard.  We all hung out at Uncle Brian and Aunt Anna's house one Friday night and played the jelly bean game called "BeanBoozled".  We mostly enjoyed spending time together and catching up on what's happening in their lives.
Here are some of the photos we took at Clemson:

in front of Sikes Hall

 

Tillman Hall

Amphitheater, reflection pond, and library

Reflection pond 

Playtime with Aunt Abbey

Uncle Andy and Tyler helping with the mulch