The Candy-Dispensing Toilet

We have been potty training Ethan for the past couple of weeks. By that, of course, we mean we tried a couple of weeks ago, he did pretty good for a couple of days, and then suddenly decided he wanted nothing to do with the potty. In fact, the mere mention of the "p" word would be answered with a resounding, "NO WAAAAAANT!!!!" (Picture a mouth opened very wide while screaming inches from your face.) So, we decided to not push the issue at all. One thing we've learned with potty training, you cannot force it. It's on their time or not at all.

So recently we decided to give it another go. We decided the time was right. Well, actually, we totally ran out of pull-ups. That realization was a horrifying moment; we pictured our house flooded in urine, because that was how it had been for a couple of days during the "NO WAAAAAANT!!!!" period. Lots of pee. Lots of cleaning. Lots of soaked Transformers and Superheros (not even cool underwear was free of his urinating wrath).

When we realized that we were without pull-ups, we had no choice but to clad his loins in Superheros (hoping they would intervene with their super powers, of course). Four soaked-Superheros later Sherrie had the stroke of genius--inspiration really--to offer him candy simply to sit on the potty (not much, but enough to peak his interest). We normally would not condone giving candy without first producing, well, pee, but we were desperate. And Ethan loved it! He caught on very quickly that sitting on the potty equals candy-dispenser (eww!!! our toilet is a candy-dispenser!), which he loved.

The second time we bribed him to the candy-dispensing toilet, a miracle happened: Ethan peed while on the candy-dispenser (er, toilet)! Of course, we made a big fuss and gave him a big piece of candy. He was so proud of himself! Since then he's had a couple of accidents (we're still working on the poop, which is so much grosser than cleaning pee, but doesn't leave his underwear and get all over the couch, floor, chairs, his bed, or everything else--thank goodness, by the way, for our Bissel Green Machine!), but he has been really good about using the candy-dispenser toilet to go pee.

Now, rather than us saying, "Ethan, do you want to go potty?" and being answered with the "NO WAAAAAANT!!!!" he tells us without any prompting, "Need potty!" Those might possibly be the two greatest words ever uttered! Of course, Jay was so happy to hear them approximately 312 times within 10 minutes, all for the sake of getting more candy from the candy-dispenser. But on the 313th time, GOLDEN (literally, you know, yellow pee and all).

So, we are very excited!

About a month late

We carved pumpkins last month and our kids thought it was pretty great. They loved their pumpkins and we had a lot of fun. Although we learned that Ethan doesn't want to help anyone, he wants to do it all by himself like everyone else. We'll be better prepared next year.




The finished products. The artwork of Mikayla, Jayden and Matthew.

Jay and I worked on this one. FYI, not such an easy thing to be carving at the same time on the same pumpkin.


I know this is way late, but I am trying to get out of being tagged, and it was agreed upon that updating the blog would suffice, so here you go Brandi! :)

We will be blogging about our great trip to Texas, so you can get super excited about that one. Except those of you that have already heard about our trip, I suppose you can just look at the cool pics that we'll post with it. Too bad we didn't take more!

A Moment to Brag

Several months ago, Jay took a couple of tests for some competition that I am not even going to pretend that I know anything about. All I know is that he took the tests. Apparently, all Airmen E-4 to E-6 in select career fields were supposed to be taking it. We thought that a handful would be chosen to go to San Antonio for the final test and didn't think much else about it.

Well, today, Jay was informed that he would be going to San Antonio for 4 days. He came in 2nd out of all E-4s through E-6s in his entire career field, so he will be receiving a silver medal. So, why does he need to be in San Antonio for four days? He talked to someone who had gone before and apparently it is a four day long award ceremony filled with wining and dining. It is quite the big deal. How awesome is he? I know, I know! He is the GREATEST!!!! Way to go, Jay!

I just wanted to take a moment to tell everyone how incredibly awesome my husband is. We haven't been to San Antonio since he graduated from basic. It is going to be so much fun! YEA!!!

Why I Serve

Exactly seven years ago today, as I was getting ready for work, I received a phone call from a friend: "Have you seen what is on the news?" I turned on the TV and was shocked at what I was seeing. How could that happen in our great nation? What would it mean for my family's future? What could I do to help ensure that the freedom I so highly cherished would endure for my children and their children?

I went to work that morning with a renewed resolve to do my very best at my chosen profession. September 11, 2001 marked almost one year to the day since I had first raised my arm and taken a solemn oath to "protect and defend the Constitution of the United States from all enemies, foreign and domestic, and to bear true faith and allegiance to the same." On that day when America changed forever, I resolved that I would do what I could to ensure that such a thing will never happen again, and that my children's future will be bright.

Serving in the military is not always easy. It has required great sacrifice of me. If those sacrifices only impacted me, I would hardly think of the cost, but my family has had to pay even higher sacrifices for my choice to defend this great nation. My children have spent many nights not knowing where I was, other than that "Daddy is in the desert, and God is protecting him." My wife has had to comfort their fears for my safety, all the while depending upon that God to bring me home safe. The joy of each reunion when I would return safely to my family has always been tempered by the knowledge that the next deployment was just around the corner. No, serving in the military has not been easy.

So why, then, do I serve? The word "serve" is the key. I do not do it for myself, but for others. Of highest concern to me is my own family. I serve so that my wife and my children will be free. But my concern extends far beyond my own immediate family. I serve to ensure that my fellow countrymen may enjoy their God-given rights to liberty. I serve that liberty might be brought to the oppressed in nations other than my own. I serve for others. I serve for liberty.

Military service is a sacrifice, but it is a sacrifice in its truest and purest sense: a holy offering. It requires giving up my own comforts and conveniences in order to preserve something of infinitely greater worth: freedom. There are those in this world who would take that freedom from us; it has been so from before the beginning of time. Despite the opposition, there are those who, like me, have answered the call to defend that supernal gift which God has granted us. Our service is given as an offering to our God.

I do not serve for the glory of the world. I do not serve in order to receive any thanks. There are many people who oppose what I do, yet I serve to preserve their freedom to hate me just as I serve to preserve another's freedom to be grateful. The only glory I seek through my service is the glory that can only truly be found in a free society: glory given to God without fear of reprisal from oppressive outside influences.

Thomas Jefferson said that it is a self-evident truth that God has endowed us with the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. God has endowed us with those freedoms, but there are those who are trying with all their might to deny us what God has given us. That threat has always existed, and will continue to exist. What would my life be without that freedom? And so, I have answered my nation's call, and I am proud to wear the uniform of the United States of America.

This is why I serve.

Where were you...?

Has it really been seven years? I'll admit, it has been a pretty emotional morning for me. I've been listening to music that touches my heart to the core, looking at pictures that are still so familiar, and remembering. I remember it like it was yesterday. We were living in Monterey, California. I still feel the heartache from it as I did that day.

So many people killed, so many families' lives devastated. My heart poured out to them. I wanted to do something, anything, but what was there to do? I felt helpless. My heart ached, as it aches right now, as I remember.

I remember candles being lit across the nation. We were no exception. We gathered with neighbors to light candles, we sang heartfelt songs to God, we prayed with all the energy of our soul for our great nation, the people of it, and especially those whose lives were so directly impacted by this great tragedy. I remember the unity of our nation, the flags in every yard and on every car. Everyone doing what they could to help their neighbor, just because of the love we felt for each other. The pain that we all shared in, affected us in marvelous ways. We reached out to others more. We couldn't see anyone suffering without giving a helping hand in any way that we could.

Isn't this how God wants us to treat each other? Does it always take pain, heartache, and suffering for us to remember that we are all children of a loving God? A loving God that founded this great nation and has blessed and prospered it ever since. Our founding fathers were truly inspired by God. They knew that, and I know that. We have been so blessed because we are a nation under God. Seven years ago this great nation under God was attacked. In this, at least, or finally, political parties were united. We truly were a united nation. This would not ever happen again. Sacrifices were made. Men and women went to fight for us, for our families and our futures.

How grateful I am for these sacrifices that are still being made to keep my family and this great nation safe. Sacrifices that are not unfamiliar to me. Sacrifices that affected my family directly. My husband has gone to fight in this war, on multiple occasions. I know what it is like to try and struggle as a single mom, trying to make things work while he was gone. Trying to comfort children while you feel like your own heart is breaking. Not knowing how you are going to survive another day. The list could go on and on. I know that there are many who have it so much harder than I. I know that many have made the ultimate sacrifice. I just want to say how much I appreciate the men and women, and the families of the men and women, who serve, and sacrifice, to keep our country safe. Who serve to make sure that the future will be bright for our children, as so many have done before us.

My heart goes out to those families who are separated at this time. To those single moms and dads, many who are temporary, and many who are not, my heart pours out to you. May God watch over and protect you and your loved ones. May He pour blessings out upon you. May you know that these sacrifices are not made in vain. They are needed. They are appreciated. Thank you, all of you, for what you do!

God bless this great nation, America!!!

"The Wall"

For those of you who haven't noticed, we have a "wall" on our blog. This is the place where we put the quotes from our family that crack us up. It's a good read!

Some of you out there are probably wondering, "Why is it called 'the wall?'" Well, back when Jay's sister Becky was living with us in California, we put a piece of poster board on the wall to write down all of the funny things that people said. "That's going on the wall!" was an oft heard comment in our home.

Since we've had kids we've discovered that they are a treasure trove of hilarious comments. Rather than put their wit on a poster board in our home, we've gone digital with our "wall." So, enjoy the crazy awesome funniness of our wall!

Surviving

Jay and I usually write these together, but as he is on top of Mt. Timpanogos right now getting lost, taking "shortcuts" (down a landslide), almost getting himself killed, and..gasp...getting the camera dirty hiking with some really good friends from high school, you are going to have to listen to my ramblings. And I can pretty much guarantee that it will be rambling because Jay is gone and it is just me and 4 kids. As adorable as they are, adult conversations are not the norm. This is nothing new for us, Jay being gone that is). It does help to know that it is only a matter of a few days before sanity will return. Well, at least as much sanity as we can ever to expect to have.

Actually, things aren't going that bad. Mikayla and Jayden started school on Monday, and they are absolutely loving it. That just leaves Matthew and Ethan at home all day, and that is pretty fun. If you don't count bedtime, things are going great. OK, since bedtime has been lasting about three hours the last couple of nights, perhaps you have to count it. I have to say that when they actually get in bed, and then actually stay in bed, and don't make any more noise because they are actually sleeping (passed out from exhaustion from the previous three hours), I get to take a breather and get psyched up for tomorrow. The wise thing would probably be to go to bed so that I get a good nights rest so that I won't be exhausted in the morning. Enjoying the peace and quiet to the fullest is a must, so I stay up ridiculously late!

I can't wait to enjoy the peace and quiet with Jay by my side making me laugh a gut-wrenching laugh like only he can do. (there goes the quiet) He really is the best-EVER!!! I am so grateful to be married to my very best friend in the world. He makes me so crazy happy. Sometimes I can't get over the fact that we get to be together FOREVER! Does it get any better than that?

I miss you, Jay! I'm glad that you are having fun, and that you were not successful at the whole almost-killing-yourself thing. I suppose the tedious cleaning of the camera is worth the "awesome pictures of Brent almost killing himself" (One of those will have to be posted when you get back). Thank you for being so wonderful. Thank you for everything. I love you with all my heart!

I LOVE YOU, JAY! SO MUCH!

Example of What We Hear at Church...

"Why is Jesus up in a lollipop?"
-Matthew

All Are Invited

Hope to see you there.

Johnson News -by Mikayla Johnson

JOHNSON NEWS

announcements:
Jayden's b-day party ???

Mikayla's b-day ???
Mikayla's baptism 2 August (everyone's invited)
Johnson kids play group 8 July
Grandma and Grandpa, Grandpa and Grandma, Becky and Brett coming over ???


Picture me mom

On July 7, 2008, The Crazy Awesome Johnsons went to the Savannah River to take pictures for a surprise for somebody. It was a lot of fun, and the family looked awesome! Oh, need a good photographer? Call the Johnsons!

Crazy Awesome Kids

"Photographer Bus."

The parents of the Johnson kids are very talented photographers. If you ever want a good pic, call the Crazy Awesome Johnson family! (No, it doesn't say that in the phone book, but it should)

Mikayla wants to be a writer!

Mikayla (the person who's making this) loves to write, but she hasn't ever made a story which she thought was good enough. Her parents say it's really good, but you never know. Hmmm, you should try it! (writing, I mean) It's really fun to do, and it's easy! C'mon, try!

By: Mikayla Johnson

(Can you get better advertisement than that? How great is she? Love you Mikayla!)

We Love You, Charlie!

Our cute little bunny, Charlie, died tonight. It's been a pretty emotional night in our house. Charlie was only about 9 weeks old. We don't know why he died. He was acting normal until around bed time, when he suddenly started hopping around his cage very erratically--almost flopping-like. Then he started making little screaming noises. Sherrie took him out and held him close. He was paralyzed from the hips up; all he could move were his hind legs. He was breathing very rapidly and drooling. Then his eyes started to glaze over. Sherrie went to ask the neighbor across the street to watch the kids so we could take Charlie to the animal hospital, and he died in her arms.

We had a funeral for Charlie tonight and buried him in the back yard. The kids were very upset. Matthew and Ethan don't really understand, but Mikayla and Jayden took it very hard. We talked a lot about death and resurrection. By the end of the evening, the kids, while still missing Charlie, seemed to be doing pretty well.

Charlie was a really cute bunny, and we all loved him. He'll be missed around here. We're especially going to miss seeing Ethan playing and cuddling with his "Char-Char".

Ethan and "Char-Char"

We love you, Charlie!

"Every Time I See My Smiley Faces, It Makes Me Frown"

School is out, yet we still have Jayden's smiley faces on our front door for everyone to see.

For those of you who may not know, this was a HUGE deal for Jayden. For the the first few months of school, the incentive for good behavior in the classroom was going to the treasure box. Sounds exciting, right? Well, Jayden was so excited to be able to go get a "treasure" (you know, such precious items as plastic whistles that spray copious amounts of spit when you blow in them and the like). The only catch was that you only got to go to the treasure box on Fridays, and then only if you had kept your star up all week.

That doesn't sound too tough, does it? Well, this was about the most difficult thing ever for Jayden. Sir Edmund Hillary may have climbed Mt. Everest, but did he keep his star the whole way up? Probably not! You see, it was pretty much a "one-strike-you're-out" kind of deal. When you acted up, down came the star, and thus the chance for the spit-whistle treasure. They had other "punishments" for continued bad behavior (which, by the way, Jayden has informed us "is never funny"), but once Jayden's star would come down, he just didn't care anymore. Who cares about not being able to go to the "centers" or a shorter recess if you're chances for the coveted noise-making-spit-rocket is gone?

Each week Jayden would commit to making it to Friday with his star still shining brightly on the wall, and each week it would come down before Friday. In fact, it would usually come down on Monday. In the morning. We think Jayden would walk into the classroom and his mere presence would cause his star to become Haley's comet and hurtle to the floor.

What, you may be wondering, were Jayden's heinous crimes? Well, you know, stuff like standing on his chair, being a snake under the desks as the teacher is giving a lesson, putting his nap time mat on the bathroom floor (GROSS!!!! these are five-year old boys we're talking about...you know how well they aim!), and of course, the biggest and most oft repeated infraction, refusing to lay perfectly still in a comatose state for the one hour mandatory nap time (don't even get us started on the absurdity of a one hour nap time in kindergarten!).

Jayden's teacher, Mrs. Copeland, has been teaching kindergarten for a very long time, so she's certainly dealt with boys like Jayden before, right? Imagine our "joy" at receiving a personal phone call from Jayden's teacher and being told that she was very seriously considering quitting the teaching profession, and our son was a major factor! Yep, those are the phone calls you aren't so excited to get.

Mrs. Copeland decided not to quit, and implemented a new incentive policy: smiley faces! Every day the students would have a behavior report indicated by a smiley face, a straight face, or a frowny face, and you only lost your star if you got a frowny face. At first, Jayden kept losing his star pretty much right away (sometimes he made it all the way to Wednesday!). Around February he started coming home with more smiley faces and straight faces than frowny ones. On April 1st, he saw his smiley face on his monthly behavior chart and told us that he wanted to fill the whole thing up with smiley faces. He prayed every night that he would be good the next day and be able to get a smiley face.

AND HE DID IT!!!!

Way to go Jayden! He even got to get as many spit-launchers as he could stand, because he visited the treasure box every week. Mrs. Copeland told us on the last day of school that she was so proud of Jayden. She said this is why she teaches, to see that kind of change in the children. Mrs Deas, the teacher's assistant, even started crying when Jayden went to tell her good-bye.

So now, school is out, and we still have the smiley faces on our door for everyone to see. Jayden said "Every time I see my smiley faces, it makes me frown." Well, of course it does, Jayden! We all frown at smiley faces! Actually, we were pretty confused. Maybe he realized that the spit-whistle wasn't all it was cracked up to be, or maybe he noticed that they mysteriously disappeared whenever mom or dad found them around the house, but apparently, the smiley faces were making him sad. When we asked him why, he said that the chart full of smiley faces makes him miss Mrs. Copeland and Mrs. Deas. You would have thought that we would have taken it down, but we're so proud of him that we force him to endure the pain of loss and separation, just so we can gloat and smile in the face of his misery. OK, maybe we should just file it away! If he ever gets too chipper we can always bring out the smiley face chart and mellow him out a bit!

Jayden on one of his last days of school, before he realized the torture induced by smiles

Come One, Come All!

We are celebrating Jay turning the big 3-0 this Saturday at 4:00. Everyone's invited. No presents, just bring food for the potluck dinner. Contact us for more details!

We'll see you there!

"Crazy Awesome" vs. "Awesome Crazy"

Most of you probably haven't noticed, but we have changed the title of our blog. So we decided to point it out so you that you will notice! Although we are undoubtedly the Awesome Crazy Johnsons, we have decided that we are more the Crazy Awesome Johnsons. The difference, of course (as defined by us), is that "awesome crazy" means it is absolutely fantastic how mental we are. True. But, "crazy awesome" means it is absolutely mental how fantastic we are. Obviously, the latter applies much more than the former!

Awesome Crazy:

We definitely need to remodel our bathroom here in Georgia!


Crazy Awesome:
Ethan using the Force to rescue our canoe's paddle

"Paper Bags Don't Have Tongues!"

That was a direct quote from Jay. So of course you're thinking, "Hmm...What on earth would cause Jay to make such an exclamation?" Well, it's really quite simple. We were practicing what to do in case of hyperventilation, you know, breathe into a paper bag. "Hold on," you say. "What on earth possessed you to practice that? That's not something that really needs practicing. You're either hyperventilating, so you breathe into a paper bag, or you're not and you don't." OK, so that's true, but it was late and it sounded like a really good idea. Well, no it didn't, but we did it anyway. So Jay says to Sherrie, "Hey, do you think if you were hyperventilating and you didn't have a paper bag handy that you could just get the same effect from breathing into my mouth?" You know, kind of like CPR, only really weird. Sherrie was of course intrigued by the idea. No, she wasn't at all, but remember, it was really late (you all know what happens when you get all slap-happy late at night and even the word "peanut butter" makes you bust up laughing). So anyway, we decided to give it a try. Jay sealed his lips against Sherrie's (don't worry, this is definitely "G" rated stuff), exhaled, and then inhaled. Did you ever hold the vacuum hose up to your mouth as a kid? Of course you did. Well, same thing. And thus the exclamation, "Paper bags don't have tongues!"

The Awesome Crazy Johnson Family Joins the Blog-osphere

Well, it's official. We've finally joined the blog-osphere. Actually, we've been around for a while via our photography blog (check it out, by the way, at picturethepossibilities.blogspot.com), but we've gotten a lot of comments that go along the lines of "Hey, I love you're pictures...of other people; what's going on in your family, though?" So, we've decided to start this blog so people will realize that we actually still exist with our family, and that we are definitely still awesome and still crazy. In case any of you ever doubted. Which you shouldn't have. Because we are. And always will be. In the best sense of the words of course. Not that there's a bad sense to "awesome". Anyway...

So, in case those of you who have been dazzled over the last year by our awesome pictures have forgotten the makeup of our family, here's a little refresher. The Awesome Crazy Johnson family consists of 6 people and 1 bird. Actually, as our good friend Davey pointed out in his blog, our family only consists of 6 people. The bird is a pet which we own. Apparently in some circles that puts us right in the same class as ruthless barbarians to consider ourselves the owners of another form of life, but hey, our bird lives in a cage. I think that definitely qualifies as owning. Caging family members is pretty much illegal. We do let her out of her cage a whole lot and let her fly around. We don't let our kids fly, so maybe we're crueler to them. So, we own a bird and have 6 family members.

Anyway, TA-DA!!! We're here! Hopefully we'll update fairly often. Those of you familiar with our photography blog, though, will know that we're not the most diligent bloggers, so don't set your expectations too high. That way you won't be disappointed! If you're ever wondering, though, yes, we are still awesome and crazy, even if we haven't posted anything for a while to prove it.

Oh, and the bird who lives in captivity in a cage in our home is named Polly. She's a cockatiel.

(Polly rising up against Ethan, the smallest of her owners.)